As local authorities across the UK look to develop and improve their transport infrastructure, Copper’s Josh Storer takes a look at how Herefordshire Council is communicating its own ambitious plans to the wider community.
Herefordshire is, in many ways, a quintessentially English county – furnished with a pretty cathedral city, a winding river and an abundance of rich, agricultural land.
But with these rural benefits come a series of familiar infrastructure challenges. Car journeys often take precedence over other forms of transport, meaning arterial roads and river crossings can quickly become bottlenecks – cutting off vital access to other parts of the region and beyond.
Like many local authorities, such as those in Greater Cambridge, Herefordshire Council is working to overcome these hurdles and deliver an exciting future for the region. The Hereford Transport Package is a flagship programme of dynamic transport improvements designed to reduce traffic, improve reliability and offer better travel choices.
The package is currently undergoing public consultation, with the council inviting the local community to have its say at a series of consultation events throughout February. Focusing on a host of changes to Hereford’s walking, cycling and public transport facilities, the events aim to get people thinking about how they move around the city day-to-day.
This will be accompanied by a proactive communications and engagement campaign, supported by Copper, which will create regular touch points with the county’s residents. By building the council’s presence in print, online and in person, the campaign aims to increase awareness of the project, as well as tell the wider story of how improving its infrastructure could help to make Herefordshire an even better place to live, work, study and visit.
The result, we hope, will ensure that Herefordshire’s growing community is able to shape its own future and take advantage of the many opportunities the county has to offer.
